Launching High School Bioengineers on their Paths to College and Careers

Members: BioBuilder, Ars BioTechnica, East Tennessee State University, Daicel Arbor Biosciences

Project dates: 2022 - 2024

High school students around the country built foundational skills and competencies needed for a career in biotechnology and bioindustrial manufacturing through the BioBuilderClub.  

The program engaged 285 students from 11 states around the country in academic year 2023-2024 in hands-on research projects that developed biotechnology skills and increased awareness of career opportunities in bioindustrial manufacturing. Thanks to a partnership with East Tennessee State University, this project included a focused effort to bring biotechnology to students in rural Appalachia.  

With BioMADE support, teachers were able to access BioBuilder’s teacher professional development online training platform for free.  

Students in BioBuilderClub worked with mentors from academia and industry to design research questions. Daicel Arbor Biosciences provided myTXTL kits and online training videos to support these research projects and students in the Boston region were able to visit BioBuilders’ lab space at Ginkgo Bioworks.  

The BioBuilderClub featured Student Ambassadors who share and present activities like: 

Participants received mentoring for technical guidance on projects and research papers, as well as college and career paths. Students also had the opportunity to participate in the peer review process and publish their work online in the BioTreks journal.  Student work culminated in a final assembly in which students presented a lightning talk and poster to peers, mentors, academic, and industry professionals. More than 240 people attended in person, including teams from Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio and Massachusetts and other teams participating online. Project resources can be found linked below in the Member Portal.

Funding source: U.S. Department of Defense

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